Caleb Kern outlasts Edgerton teammate Cameron Lee in two-hole medalist playoff; Lakeland wins team title (2024)

KOHLER— As the leader stood on the 18th tee box Tuesday at Blackwolf Run, watching teammate Cameron Lee get ready to hit his approach shot into the final green from the fairway in front of him, Edgerton's Caleb Kern did what he often does when he has a few minutes to kill— he took out his cell phone and checked scores from the WIAA Division 2 state boys golf championships.

"Oh, I look at them all day; I always look at scores," Kern would admit later. "I'm always looking. I'm always paying attention. I'm always seeing what people are up to, even if it's not our division. I have a lot of friends out here and I like to see who I can give some crap to. I like to always look."

On this occasion, though, Kern saw that Lee was only golfer left on the course with a chance to catch him at 3-over-par. And then Kern watched him do it.

Lee, a senior headed to UW-Stout in Menomonie this fall, rolled in a birdie putt at No. 18 on what would have been the final hole of his high school career had his 1-under 71 not helped him catch his junior teammate after Kern parred the 383-yard finishing hole in the group behind him. That sent the Crimson Tide teammates back to the 18th tee not once, but twice before Kern put a halt to the playoff by holing a 16-foot birdie putt on the second hole of sudden death.

"It felt really good," Lee said of his birdie putt to force more golf. "I was really struggling with the putter all day so it felt good to finally make a putt. I had a pitching wedge from 160 (yards) out and I stuck it to maybe 15 feet. I knew if I made the putt I could have forced a playoff. I saw it was going left-to-right and it trickled right in. I knew what I had to do."

It didn't do anything to change the outcome of the chase for the team title— Edgerton finished second to Lakeland (Minocqua) by five strokes after having caught the Thunderbirds at the turn— but it did bring a different kind of happiness to the school's 25th state appearance dating to 1925.

Kern became the fifth Edgerton golfer to win a state championship —95 years after the first (Russell Severson) and 40 years after its most prominent (Steve Stricker). Lee, meanwhile, became the second Edgerton golfer to lose via a playoff for medalist honors at state, according to Wisconsin.Golf research of online newspapers (Mike Hesselman lost to Edgewood's Cody Strang in 2008).

Theirs was the 26th medalist playoff in the 98-year history of the boys state championship, according to Wisconsin.Golf research, and only the second with two golfers from the same team (and first in a head-to-head situation). Matt Bark of Washburn edged teammate Wes Hansen on the third extra hole after they eliminated Jeb Gruenenberger of Kickapoo (Viola) a hole earlier.

"Bouncing back from (a 40 in Monday's rain-shortened opening round) and being able to shoot a 71 was really helpful," Lee said, "and it felt really good to be able to play against my teammate in the playoff."

Lee delayed the end of his high school career again on the first playoff hole where he got up-and-down for par from a fluffy lie left of the 18th green. Both golfers were in the same place on the second trip up No. 18, Kern about 15 feet from the cup and Lee left of the green with a less-friendly lie, leading him to chunk a chip and miss his par putt before Kern converted his for birdie.

"I guess I tried every side of the hole," said Kern, who was robotic in hitting to the middle of the fairway and into the green, leaving himself 15 feet from different angles between his birdie puttin regulation and the two during the playoff. "My big thing was staying consistent. I wasn't going to try anything crazy. I was going to try to make pars and if you lose to a birdie, you lose to a birdie."

The Crimson Tide lost to more pars (25) than birdies (four) from Lakeland on the back nine during regulation. After shooting 158 on the front nine, the Thunderbirds shot 148 on the back for a 306 total that was 15 strokes better than any of their final-round scores over the last five years at state.

Lakeland counted a 75 from No. 4 golfer Jeremy Hensen, a pair of 76s from No. 1 golfer Jack Rubo and No. 3 Gray Wagner and a 77 from No. 2 golfer Matt Haggart, whose T-4 showing was tops for the Thunderbirds. Edgerton, on the other hand, had three golfers in the top five (sophom*ore Owen Wagie was T-4, too), but couldn't find a fourth score low enough to put a scare into Lakeland, whose 27-hole total of 468 was enough to withstand Edgerton.

"It's tough to put into words right now," Lakeland coach Scott Howard said of the program's first state title in its eighth state appearance, this being the fifth top-five finish. "We've been in this position so many times. We've been here seven years in a row. We've been in the lead before, but we've never been able to close it out. This team, I'm so proud of them.

"I've got to rewind back a little bit. Our first team to make it to state in 21 years was in 2017. I've got to thank every, single player on that team, the '18 team, the '19 team, the '21 team and '22. That paved the way for these guys, showing that it could be done and that there was a path. ... I'm so proud of these guys, our three seniors leading the way and Jeremy Hensen played unbelievable today. Just a lot of key, quality putts. We made long putt, we weren't three-putting, we made our short putts. Our emphasis for the entire year was putting and for it to come to a culmination in a state title is hard to put in words. It's very special."